Pep sets his sights on Messi
Pep vows to introduce the Barca brand to his team and beat Catalans at their own stylish game
PEP GUARDIOLA has opened the door to Manchester City making a move for Lionel Messi if the Argentinian ever leaves Barcelona. City are confident they would be at the front of the queue for Messi in the event of him leaving the Nou Camp, and believe Guardiola’s appointment has only strengthened their position. The former Barca coach suggested on the eve of City’s Champions League clash with his old club tonight that Messi could be tempted by a new test. ‘In the case of Leo, I really wish him to play here at Barcelona and finish his career here,’ said Guardiola. ‘But maybe he will think: “OK I want to go play elsewhere”. Maybe it could happen. ‘But if he decides to go and it happens, there would be seven or eight clubs that would want to sign him, and it would be down to him.’ Guardiola has also admitted speaking to goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, indicating the German was his first-choice to replace Joe Hart at the Etihad instead of Claudio Bravo. ‘As for Ter Stegen, I knew that he wanted to play all the time. He wasn’t happy with his situation. Claudio came and Ter Stegen decided to stay.’
BACK at the place where he began his education, Pep Guardiola was happy to make the point that it is far from finished. Sitting in a familiar seat in the press auditorium at the Nou Camp, the Manchester City coach looked and sounded like a man thoroughly at home. Only the club designer outfit — retailing at more than £1,700 a throw — made him look in any way different from the years he spent here.
Guardiola is one of those lucky men who never seems to age. The quest to broaden the mind continues, though, and it will be on the touchline tonight that he believes he will learn something valuable about the team he started to build in the summer.
One thing is clear. City, having dropped two points in Group C to Celtic, are here to win. They will, to simplify it, try to play like Barcelona against Barcelona. It’s a nice theory and one that the creator of the modern Barca is not at all sure will work.
‘We will try to be ourselves,’ said Guardiola. ‘I need to know some things about my team as quickly as possible. I have only been here at City a short time and I am still trying to learn about my players. This is a game that will help me.
‘I know it is difficult but our plan is to have the ball. They can’t do anything to us if they don’t have it. To change the way we play, we don’t have time. It is impossible and the players would not believe me.
‘We have to adjust because it is a special team we are playing. But we have to try to be ourselves as much as possible. So this is a good test to see what kind of moment we are in.’
Guardiola will hope his team play with the same conviction with which he spoke.
Railing against the Spanish media, who he believes peddled stories from former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell that he tried to sign marquee players from his old club in the summer, he inadvertently revealed that Claudio Bravo — recruited to replace Joe Hart — was his second pick behind his old Nou Camp club mate Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The City coach was also happy to admit that he would try to sign Lionel Messi if the Argentina superstar ever chooses to leave Barca. When asked how he would instruct his players to stop him tonight, meanwhile, he merely laughed.
‘I don’t know what instruction I can give to my defenders to control that talent,’ he said.
‘Ninety minutes is a long time and it’s hard to explain to them. Barca will have their chances and they don’t need many because they are so precise. So it’s not easy. This Barcelona team can do things that mine couldn’t do. They are really good, for me the best in the world.’
One of the most fabled products of the Barcelona youth system, Guardiola learned much of what he knows here.
‘This place is special to me,’ he said. ‘This stadium is part of my life. I grew up here from a boy and I made my career here.’
Since he left in the summer of 2012, the 45-year-old has been back, of course. Two seasons ago he was in the stands as Barcelona eased past Manuel Pellegrini’s City. As Messi nutmegged James Milner by the near touchline, Guardiola was caught on camera laughing in disbelief.
But two months later he was back as coach of a Bayern Munich team beaten 3-0 in a Champions League semi-final. He did not laugh that night.
Before he spoke yesterday, his defender Pablo Zabaleta suggested City would attempt to dominate possession tonight. It seems a fanciful notion. In that March 2015 defeat, City lost by only one goal but hardly saw the ball at all.
Can so much really change in only 19 months?
‘Manuel was the first coach who was able to reach the semi-finals with City, so that is all credit to him and what he did,’ said Guardiola.
‘That certainly helps the next coach. We can’t forget that. You only become an important club when you reach that stage all the time and we are trying to do that.
‘I don’t know what Manuel did to prepare for that game you are talking about. I wasn’t at the club. But I know what I want to do. We need points from this game. We have a hard group. If we lose we are under pressure.’
Barcelona have lost twice so far in La Liga — once at home to Alaves — but beat Deportivo 4-0 at the weekend. City, meanwhile, have no win in three games in all competitions and were beaten two-and-half weeks ago by a Tottenham team employing similar high-press tactics that will confront Guardiola’s players tonight.
Barcelona own the copyright to this style of football and Guardiola more than did his bit during his days here.
The City entourage were hardly recognisable in their on-trend travelling outfits yesterday and must produce something else we have not seen from them before if they are to leave their mark in Catalonia tonight.